B2B sales typically have high value pricing, larger impact to more roles across an organisation and involve more stakeholders to make a decision than B2C. Therefore it cannot be a simplistic comparison to B2C sales.

That said, during a B2C purchase we often ask a trusted advisor or perceived expert to provide their advice on a purchase. This is typically only one person; a bit like when I buy running shoes I often ask the top athlete I train with for advice rather than blindly walking into the sports store.

In B2B the exact same process occurs, only this time the sales cycle is longer and you are required to bring colleagues onboard to approve a decision.

For that reason to be on the front lines of 'consumerisation' of B2B you need to ensure your trusted advisors across the organisation (sales team) are maximising their ability to influence by continuing the conversation away from the meeting room by showing what they know online. We all know what a very good marketing campaign feels like, it makes you think there is only one brand that really matters and the brand has personality/authenticity delivering the message (a bit like a good running shoe brand, Nike recently did a great job here).

Additionally this then allows the remaining team to amplify the valuable content further to other influencers within the decision making process elsewhere in the firm. Crucially the volume allows the marketing team to measure success analytically with their in house technology.

The valuable feedback can not only position the themes of content and which clients or decisions makers to spend time on but can also help define larger campaigns such as research pieces or event sponsorship with pinpoint accuracy.

{

David Conway, Director at KPMG Nunwood, said:
“Our expectations of customer experience are heavily influenced by our own interactions as consumers and that’s why we increasingly hear about the ‘consumerisation’ of B2B. That said, B2B is more complex than the more traditional business-to-consumer relationship. There are a greater number of stakeholders involved, ranging from the end users of a product or service, to a decision maker making the purchase or entering a contract.”